


serendipity

by renecdote



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Marriage, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 17:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30025434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renecdote/pseuds/renecdote
Summary: Years later, someone calls it serendipity. Karen is in the wrong place at the right time and she meets the most amazing woman she has ever met.A few short scenes as Hen and Karen fall in love and start their life together.
Relationships: Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'first kiss'.

Years later, someone calls it serendipity. Karen is in the wrong place at the right time and she meets the most amazing woman she has ever met. She is feeling bold and brave (and lonely), so she offers to buy Hen a drink. When Hen says she shouldn’t, she’s there with friends, but maybe coffee? Maybe tomorrow? It makes the whole forty minute wait for her date that didn’t show worth it.

(It’s not until the next afternoon, when she’s drinking coffee across the table from Hen at a coffee shop with far too many clocks on the walls, that she finds out she had the wrong bar. So maybe it was serendipity, or maybe the universe has been leading her to Hen all along.)

*****

Their first kiss is awkward. Hen’s glasses slide down her nose and Karen gets the angle all wrong and it makes them both laugh, giggling like school children instead of the mature adults they are. It might be the best first kiss Karen has ever had.

And their second kiss… that one is perfect. Every kiss feels perfect when it’s with Hen. She is beautiful and fun and kind and she’s _really_ good at kissing. Karen has had girlfriends before, but nobody who looks at her the way Hen does, nobody who makes her feel alive the way that Hen does. Nobody who makes her feel _herself_ the way that Hen does.

Sitting down in the wrong bar was the best damn thing she ever did.

*****

They’re together for almost two months before Karen meets Hen’s friends. She’s nervous, more nervous than she has been since she introduced her first college girlfriend to her mother. This thing with Hen feels right, it feels _real_ , and she wants the important people in Hen’s life to like her.

She has done the _meet the family_ thing enough times to expect the interrogation when Hen goes to the bar to get another round. Hen may have introduced these people as her friends, but you only have to hear her talk about them to know that they are more than that.

“So,” Chimney is the first to say. “Do I need to ask what your intentions are with our dear Henrietta?”

Karen starts to laugh, then stops, taking in the all-too-serious look on his face. “Seriously?” she asks. “I’m pretty sure Hen could bench press me if she wanted to and you’re worried about _my_ intentions?”

“She definitely could,” Athena agrees, nodding.

Chimney rolls his eyes. “Hen is way too nice to bench press anyone,” he says firmly.

“She’s not so nice she wouldn’t kill you if she heard you calling her Henrietta,” Karen points out. It’s a slight exaggeration; Hen would probably just maim him.

Athena laughs and Chimney looks suddenly delighted. “I like you,” he declares. Hen comes back with their drinks and he turns to her to reiterate, “I like this one. You should definitely keep her.”

The way Hen looks at her is so soft and fond that it makes Karen’s heart flutter in her chest. It’s a feeling that never really goes away; two, five, eight years later, Hen always manages to make her feel like she’s falling all over again.

*****

Hen wakes her up in the middle of the night to say, “I love you,” for the first time. It’s unseasonably cold and wet in LA and Karen fell asleep reading in bed, waiting for Hen to get home from a shift that stretched into overtime. The lamp is still on, the room awash in golden light, and for a moment Karen thinks she’s still dreaming.

“I love you,” Hen repeats, still in her LAFD shirt, soaked through from the rain outside, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I should have said it weeks ago.”

Karen smiles, pulling her close, not caring that Hen is wet or that her lips are cold. She wants to ask what brought this on, why now, whether it was prompted by some horror on a call, but she holds the words back. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Hen loves her and she loves Hen and they have all the time in the world to show each other just how much.

*****

They’ve been together just under eighteen months when Karen finds herself standing outside Chimney’s apartment. She knocks on the door, then knocks again, keeping it up until Chimney answers, looking sleepy and confused.

“Karen? What—?”

Karen doesn’t beat around the bush. She pushes past him into the apartment and says, “I’m going to ask Hen to marry me.”

Chimney blinks, still more asleep than awake. “Well that’s good, since she’s going to ask you to marry her too.”

Karen stops. Chimney freezes, visibly replaying his words, then he winces. “Uhh, maybe don’t tell Hen I told you that.”

It’s not like they haven’t talked about marriage. They know where they both stand, that it’s something they both want. There has never been a time frame on it though; the conversations have always been vague, _some day it would be nice_ type discussions.

“When?” Karen asks.

Chimney shakes his head and mimes zipping his lips. “I’ve already said too much.”

“Oh no, you haven’t said nearly enough. Does she already have a ring?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“But you want to,” Karen tries. She knows how terrible Chimney is with secrets.

But he just smiles, shaking his head again. “Just trust me,” he says. “Trust _Hen_. It’s going to be perfect.”

*****

(He’s right: it is.)

*****

There is nothing traditional about the wedding, except maybe the outfits. Karen wears a long white dress and Hen wears a suit so gorgeous Karen can’t stop staring at her. Chimney cries, even though he assured them that he wouldn’t. Everyone gets a little bit drunk at the reception and when Hen and Karen stumble into their hotel room together, they’re both giggling. The door slams shut and Karen crowds Hen against the wall in the entryway, wrapping her arms around her wife’s waist.

Her wife. Just thinking it is enough to make Karen giddy. Sometimes she still can’t believe that she has all of this just because she ended up in the wrong bar. She isn’t sure she believes in fate or serendipity or anything like that, but she does believe in love. And she believes in Hen. And she believes that asking her out was the best damn decision she ever made.

“I love you,” she murmurs, leaning in for a sweet, champagne-tasting kiss.

Hen’s hands settle on her hips, holding her steady, holding her close. “I love you too,” she replies, smile wide. “Mrs Wilson.”

 _Mrs Wilson_. It sends another thrill up Karen’s spine. She has fallen a little bit in love with Hen every day since she met her and she knows she will fall a little more in love every day going forward. They kiss again, slower, unhurried as they divest each other of their clothes, finding their way to the bed without letting go for even a second.

Karen lies there afterwards, wrapped in her wife’s arms, and she thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world. If this is how life turns out, maybe she should find herself in the wrong place more often. It was the best mistake she ever made; and one she would happily make a hundred times more, as long as it brings her to Hen.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you for reading. Kudos and comments are love 💛 And you can also find me on tumblr [here](https://renecdote.tumblr.com/).


End file.
